Sunday Mornings
by Lance Corporal Chanyeol
Summary: Levi wouldn't say that he doesn't like the life he's living, but he wouldn't say he's entirely happy. He's content with living alone in his house, making coffee and meals for himself, and watching random movies on Netflix to his heart's desire. He's alone and he's not complaining, but when Eren Jaeger comes into his life, things take quite a significant turn.
1. Chapter 1

The steady drizzle of rain served as a quiet lullaby for Levi, urging him to snuggle deeper into the covers of his bed and feel the heat of the other occupant—

_Other occupant?_ _How the hell is there an 'other bed occupant'?_

And since when did the grey-eyed man ever use the word _snuggle_?

He snapped his eyes open, but the deep-sleep-induced headache made him close them again. He groaned and got up into a sitting position, starting to remember the things that happened before he passed out last night. If his memory didn't fail him, he should see a head of chocolate brown, and a pair of annoyingly green eyes (how could something be so bright and green and not be an emerald, or a jade, or the ocean itself?).

Sure enough, he was sitting next to a sleeping brunet. He remembered the face of the boy Hanji had brought over, a week after Levi had reluctantly agreed to be the baby-sitter of her 19-year old nephew. He also remembered showing said boy his temporary room as his idiot of an aunt went to who-knows-where with her equally-idiotic boyfriend, which brought up the previous question: how the hell is there another person lying on his bed?

"Eren," he called, only half-sure of the boy's name, and nudged said boy's shoulder. "Get up."

"Hmm?" The boy fluttered one eye open, groggily looking at Levi.

"Don't _hmm_ me. What are you doing in my room, sleeping on my bed? Actually, don't answer that. Just get out. I want to sleep in."

"S'freezing outside," the boy mumbled, closing his eye once again.

Levi sure as hell hoped that the brunet didn't mean outside the house, because he was going to smack the sarcasm (or the genuine stupidity) out of him.

"I gave you a room yesterday, brat. There's a heater there—. "

"Doesn't work."

"You broke my fucking heater?"

"T'wasn't working when I tried turning it on the first time."

Now that he thought about it, Levi did vaguely remember that he had to check on something once he was done with his work-overload…

He groaned for the second time that morning, cursing his luck. "Still, get your lazy ass up. If I'm not sleeping in, you aren't either."

Eren answered with his own groan, moving so he was facing away from Levi, lying on his stomach. "Five more minutes. No, make that ten."

Levi almost felt a vein comically pop out his forehead. He took a deep breath, not wanting to explode on the kid on their first day. He hoped that Eren wouldn't be this annoying all day, or during the length of his whole stay, for that matter. "You have ten seconds to get your ass out of my bed before I kick you out of this house. I don't care if your aunt threatens to kill me, so help me god, Eren."

"Jesus christ," the boy answered. "I'm up, I'm up." He sat up and started to rub sleep off his eyes. "M'sorry for intruding, was just really cold last night. Sorry, Levi."

Levi sighed. At least the kid was trying to be polite. "Yeah, well we'll just have to see and get that heater fixed so you won't be creeping up here again. Now, out."

* * *

><p>Levi busied himself with pouring coffee for both him and Eren, giving the kid the liberty to add his desired amount of coffee and creamer. He took a sip from his steaming mug, pulling out his phone to check for messages.<p>

"Must be nice, how it rains almost every day here," Eren said, after he thanked Levi for the coffee.

"Well, this _is_ the—."

"Rainiest place in the whole United Stated of goddamn America, I know. That's one of the reasons why I agreed to move in with Hanji."

Choosing to ignore the fact that it had been the second time today that Eren had cut him off mid-sentence, he decided to be a genius by pointing out the obvious, "You must really like the rain, then." No harm in trying to make small-talk with a cute boy who he had to live with for a couple of weeks.

"I love it."

Levi hummed in acknowledgement. "Quite the opposite of your aunt. She hates this place."

"Yeah, I heard. Makes me wonder why she doesn't just move back in to California if she hates the rain so much."

"Hanji's stubborn, if you haven't noticed yet. And she likes her job enough to bear with the constant rain and cold, but not enough to drop her complaints and rants. Plus, Moblit, the blondie you probably met before going here, is going to stay here until he dies, which gives Hanji another reason to lag back and do the same."

Eren looked at him with a weird look, to which Levi raised a questioning eyebrow.

"What? If you have something to say, spit it out, brat."

"For one, I'm curious as to why you think that Moblit and Hanji are going to be together that long," Eren stated, stirring his coffee.

"I never said that," Levi disagreed.

"But you did imply it, intentionally or not."

"Actually, that could just be you reading too much into it," the older man countered, crossing his arms on the table. "Hanji's not one to move out of her house just because of a simple break-up, so it might as well be considered a reason. A temporary reason, if you may."

Eren frowned, and gave Levi another one of those weird looks. "You talk a lot when it's about Hanji."

To this, Levi snorted. "You sound like some sort of psychologist, or maybe a psychiatrist, whatever. You tell me, brat."

"I major in psychology, actually. Also, please stop calling me a brat."

Levi shook his head. 'Of course he's a psychology student, what did I expect from a relative of Hanji Zoe?' "My house, my name calling. Also, me and Hanji dated. You might as well know, just so we can get over the awkward you-dated-my-aunt stage before lunch."

Eren raised a brow, mouth covered by his mug. He placed it down and avoided eye contact with Levi for a while before finally raising his shoulders in a shrug. "It'll be awkward if you're still in love with her."

"Never was, actually," Levi casually answered. He opened a text from Hanji, asking about Eren, and replied with a simple, _'He's a fucktard.'_

"Ooh, do I smell bitterness?" Eren replied, looking up at Levi again. He had a playful smirk pulling up his lips, making his looks border from a mischievous teenager to a troublesome almost-adult. He reminded Levi of Hanji so much at that moment, it was scary.

Levi made a show of pulling up a disgusted look on his face before rapidly setting it back to its normal, apathetic mode. This earned a quick laugh from Eren.

"I'm kidding, you know it," he said. He took a final drink from his mug and then put his and Levi's in the sink for washing.

"I do. Now, go get a shower or something, whatever you teenagers do these days. I'll figure something out for lunch."

"Okay. Thanks a lot for this, Levi. For letting me stay here, I mean. And for the coffee, as well."

"Don't mention it," the older male replied, feeling his phone vibrate from his pocket. He pulled it out and saw that he got more text messages from Hanji.

_"Don't be like that!" _one read, with a lot of obnoxious exclamation marks.

"Oh, and Levi?"

_"Eren's such a cutie, you'll love him!"_

"I'm gay. You might as well know, just so we can get over the awkward I'm-living-with-my-ex's-gay-nephew stage before lunch." With a final wink, Eren disappeared down the hall, probably into his temporary room.

Levi stared after him, then stared down at his phone, at Hanji's last text.

_"The kid will rock your world, I swear. I can feel it."_

Levi didn't really doubt it, but he would never admit that.

* * *

><p>Eren, as it turned out, wasn't as bad as Levi thought he would be. He cleaned after himself to the best he could, which was unsurprisingly not enough to match Levi's standard. After calling him out on it, the kid bluntly asked him if he was a clean freak, or if he had OCD or a mild case of mysophobia. Still, he wasn't as annoying as his aunt, slowly making progress on getting on Levi's good side by following the older man's orders on how to clean up.<p>

"God, I could live here forever," Eren declared, plopping down on the couch after helping Levi clear the table and wash the dishes. "Thanks for the food, Levi. You're a great cook."

"Don't get too used to it, brat," Levi replied. He followed Eren and relaxed on the couch, grabbing the remote and flipping through channels until they settled on HBO. "Tell me how long you've been living with Hanji again."

Eren took a few seconds to answer. "When I moved in, she was already planning the trip with her boyfriend so… a week?"

Levi nodded. "Sure as hell hoped you thought over your decision at least a hundred times before hopping on a plane and moving in with that crazy woman."

The teen chuckled, running a hand through his hair and further making a mess out of it. "I really like Hanji, actually. She's my favorite aunt. Plus, how could I pass up going to Trost University, right?"

Ah, now that he thought about it, Levi did remember Hanji talking about a favorite nephew or something… "How about your parents? Any siblings?"

"They were okay with it," was Eren's short reply. He perked up when he started talking about his sister. "She's adopted, but we were both kids when it happened so we practically grew up together."

"Name?"

"Mikasa," Eren beamed. "She acts like my mom most of the times but I'm probably going to start missing that real soon."

"Don't we all," Levi agreed in a quiet voice, putting a temporary end to their conversation. He resumed by opening up the topic of house rules.

"First and foremost, clean after your shit," Levi started. He pretended not to notice how Eren hid a smile behind his hand. "Second, I don't generally give a fuck about your love or sex life, but you don't bring anyone here. _Anyone_. Also, we have separate rooms for a reason, brat. I'm not saying that we can't talk or be friends and shit, but don't be clingy or anything, it's creepy."

"Yes, sir," Eren replied, doing a mock salute. "Anything else?"

"They aren't really rules but I work the night shift, so most nights you'll probably have to make dinner yourself, the other meals, I can take care of them. Your aunt promised to pay me for whatever crap you'll need so you don't have to worry about money, unless you've got other shit to buy, like porn or videogames and the lot."

Eren nodded slowly, taking it in. "Okay, I understand." He fiddled with his jacket before moving on to another topic. "Hanji told me you work in a pharmacy, was it?"

"It's actually a hospital pharmacy, yes. My only day off is Sundays and my work hours are 8 PM to 4 AM. Anymore questions?"

"Does that mean that you're going to work later?" the brunet asked, head slightly cocked to one side.

"Yes, Eren. Because of that, I'm going to depend on you to not ruin my house by the time I get back."

Eren chuckled. "Sounds like a task."

Levi almost smirked. "Don't worry yourself too much, kid. You'll be staying here for what, two weeks, at most? Your aunt's gonna be back before you know it." With this, Levi stood up from his place, leaving Eren to his own devices.

* * *

><p>During the third day of Eren's stay, Levi caught him sleeping on the couch when he got home.<p>

He maneuvered his way through the house without turning on any of the lights, heading to the kitchen to get a drink before passing the living room, intending to drop his keys on the stand next to the couch when he saw Eren, snuggled into himself without any covers or sheets to protect him from the cold except for a thin-looking blanket.

Levi would have walked past him, pretended not to notice that the kid was probably going to catch a cold if he continued sleeping there, but he found himself gently tapping the sleeping brunet on his shoulder, quietly calling his name.

"What?" Eren grumbled. He started to blink his eyes open, letting them adjust to the darkness before finally getting up into a sitting position.

"Oh, you're back. Welcome home, Levi," he said, voice thick with sleep, nose already sounding congested.

Levi refused to acknowledge the fact that he thought the brat might have waited for him. "Don't sleep here, for fuck's sake. I swear, I'm not going to take care of you or anything if you end up catching some sort of cold."

"M'sorry," the teenager slurred, standing up and wrapping the pathetic blanket around his shoulders. He zombie-walked himself up to his room, where he turned and waved Levi a _good mornight_ (which Levi would later learn was a hybrid between morning and night, apparently because he was going to sleep when it was already morning). It was when he was changed into his night clothes, tucked into bed, when Levi realized that he was grinning. He almost slapped himself.

When he woke up a good three hours before noon, he ended up giving the kid pills for his cold, with a hearty "I told you so" look.

"Don't pull that shit again," he repeated for the third time.

"Yes, sir," Eren replied, doing one of his signature mock salutes. With the dishes done and with nothing else to do, they once again ended up watching old movies on HBO while lounging on the couch. On other days, Levi would hate how the time went by without him doing anything productive, but today, he was glad for the extended "day off".

During the ninth day of Eren's stay, when Levi got home at around seven in the morning after an overtime shift at the hospital, the older male slept in, all the way to two in the afternoon. He woke up with a groan, sitting up and feeling as well as hearing his bones crack after a few stretches. He happened to look at himself in the mirror while brushing his teeth and concluded that he looked like a walking corpse, so he quickly rinsed his mouth and pointedly ignored his reflection.

He expected to walk into a quiet living room, but all his dreams were shattered when he heard Eren from the laundry place, a colorful array of "Shit, fuck, I'm dead," sounding off from the room in a muffled version of the teen's voice. Levi had a clue on what he would find there when he opened the door, but he did not expect the amount of bubbles oozing out from his washing machine. Eren stood there, looking horrified while holding the machine's plug.

"What the fuck happened here?" Levi asked, looking from Eren to the machine.

"I don't know, shit," the boy replied. "Did I put too much detergent in there?"

"You tell me. Fuck, Eren. Do you think you broke it?" Levi walked closer on careful feet, inspecting the damage.

"No, I'm fairly sure I didn't. I mean… it doesn't look broken?"

"Fuck. This is why I don't believe you when you say you didn't break the heater."

After that, they scooped out all the bubbles from inside the machine and checked if it was still working. Miraculously, it seemed like Eren was right and that he had just put in too much detergent. Levi ended up helping him with his laundry, and then they cleaned up the place.

"I haven't even had breakfast yet, you little shit," Levi grumbled, stalking out the room once he knew that Eren could take care of the rest. He had watched the teen closely while he did his laundry, not trusting Eren enough to leave him alone after that mishap, and now he was feeling starved.

"It's almost three o'clock, too late for breakfast or even lunch," he heard Eren say from behind him.

"Fuck you and your time issues. If I want to have breakfast at three in the afternoon, I will have breakfast at three in the afternoon," Levi said. He stopped sticking his head inside the fridge and turned to look at Eren. The teenager was putting something inside Levi's microwave.

"What are you doing?" he asked, half cautious that Eren might break another appliance, although he hasn't actually broken anything yet.

"I made spaghetti while you were sleeping," the brunet answered. He shrugged when Levi continued to stare at him. "I figured you would probably want to eat something when you wake up so I wanted to save you the trouble of cooking."

It wasn't a big gesture, to be honest. Something like cooking for the person you live with is completely normal and isn't something that should make someone too happy. If he thought about it, it was just that Levi wasn't used to things like these; things like waking up and having someone heat food for you, or waking up to your washing machine turning into a bubble machine.

"I'm sorry for making a mess there," Eren continued. He rubbed a hand on the back of his head and sent a sheepish smile at Levi's way. "I was trying to impress you but it totally backfired."

He didn't know what to say and how to react so instead of answering, Levi let the beeping sounds from the microwave fill the silence. He watched as Eren pulled out the container and grabbed a plate and a fork. Soon, the table was set with a serving of tasty-looking spaghetti and even a glass of orange juice.

That day, Levi thought that living with Eren really wasn't that bad at all.


	2. Chapter 2

Levi really, really did like sleeping in, he concluded. He liked feeling his bed sheets wrapped around him as he slowly woke up to the sound of the rain's incessant singing outside. He liked opening his eyes to look at the time and not jump up to get ready for work and maybe even go back to sleep.

He did not like the sound of his phone blaring off on his bedside table, obnoxiously telling him that someone was calling. He did not like having to roll on his stomach and reach around to pluck his phone off the table, tap ANSWER, and then press the small device to his ear.

"What?" he grumbled, resuming his previous position of lying on his back. "Fuck you, Hanji, of course I was sleeping."

_"Sorry, grumpy cat. I just wanted to check on Eren,"_ Hanji's voice told him from the phone. He pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Maybe you could have called him instead of me?"

_"Yes, but I wanted to know if he was being good and behaving well. Is he being a pain in the ass for you?"_

"Everyone is a pain in the ass for me, Hanji."

Said woman laughed. _"I know, but with varying levels. For example, there's me and Erwin on the you're-a-pain-in-the-ass-but-I-love-you level."_

Levi rolled his eyes. "He's on the I-tolerate-you level, then."

_"Aww, Levi! That's amazing to hear! You sound like you're getting along with him,"_ Hanji announced and Levi could almost see the stupid grin that would most probably be pulling on her face.

He got up and stretched a bit, running a hand through his hair. "He almost broke my washing machine just the other day and I still suspect that he actually broke the heater in his borrowed room. Still, he's a pretty decent kid. He's shit at cleaning, though."

He heard Hanji laugh again. She was about to say something when someone knocked on Levi's door.

"Come in," he called, knowing that it would be best to let Eren talk to his aunt.

"Lunch is ready," the teen said, popping his head through the door. "Oh, sorry, did I disturb you?"

"Your aunt already got that handled," Levi answered, ignoring the squealing coming from Hanji's line. "Here."

He waited 'til Eren entered and reached his hand out for the phone before handing it over and leaving the room, letting them have their privacy (even if it was _his_ room and they were both invading _his_ privacy), heading to the bathroom to brush his teeth. When he came back, Eren was sitting on his bed while gazing out the window.

"Do you think there's a storm coming? It's already a downpour," he notted, Levi's phone still in his hands.

In fact, the rain was pouring _really_ hard. If this kept up, Levi didn't know if he could make it to work later. "Seems like it. Come on, you made lunch, right?"

Eren surrendered the phone and mumbled a "Yeah, okay," before leaving ahead of Levi. The older male sighed.

It was becoming harder to pretend that he didn't think that Eren had a crush on him, but he would endure.

They ate lunch on the bar separating the kitchen from the rest of the house while the rain steadily gained even more strength. Levi could tell that there was indeed a storm brewing out there.

"Will you be going to work?" Eren suddenly asked, playing with the vegetables on his plate. Levi wondered why the kid even bothered to put vegetables in there if he wasn't going to eat it.

"I'm going to call in and tell them that they're crazy if they think I can even leave the house with that storm waiting for me outside."

Eren nodded, smiling. "Yep, you do that." He popped a broccoli into his mouth and grimaced. "God, that's awful."

"You cooked this," Levi deadpanned.

"I'm not responsible for the taste of these vegetables. They were born that way."

Levi barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes. "You're a special kind of retard, aren't you? Why would you make this if you don't like eating vegetable shit?"

"Well, I was thinking that if I'm going to make you lunch then I might as well make it healthy, right? You know, to make up for your odd sleeping schedule. So you won't collapse or something. Right?"

Pretending that he didn't notice how Eren's mood significantly brightened when he said that he wasn't going to work was hard, but Levi could do it. Pretending that he wasn't the slightest bit touched by what Eren said, that was harder.

"Whatever. Just don't bore me to death," he told the teen as they cleaned up. "What do you even do here?"

"Netflix," Eren answered. "And sleep."

"Right. I'm dying from the excitement."

An hour later, they managed to find enough horror movies on Netflix to last them a year.

"This is what you do every day? Don't you have a social life?" Levi asked. Not like he had one outside of work and Hanji and Erwin, but Eren was young. Kids his age usually went out every day.

(Not like he could go out with the kind of weather they had, and not like he had any friends around the area yet, but still.)

"I text with Mikasa and Armin every day. Armin's my best friend," he explained.

"I see. Well, ready to watch?" Levi asked. He was about to press PLAY when Eren interrupted him.

"I kinda want some pizza," he announced.

"What?"

"Pizza. Isn't that one of the must-haves when doing a movie marathon?"

"Eren, if someone will deliver pizza and make the great adventure to reach this apartment building through that shitstorm, then I might as well go to work."

The teen looked utterly crestfallen, like the idea of watching crappy horror movies on Levi's flat screen without a box of pizza in front of him was really devastating.

Fucking brat. "You want us to make pizza." It wasn't even a question.

Eren looked up at him and shrugged. "It's something to do other than just watching all day, right?"

Levi rubbed his face with his palm. "Do you even know how to make the thing?"

The teen smiled sheepishly at him before shaking his head. "I was under the impression that you do because of your crazy kitchen skills."

"Flattery won't get you anywhere, kid," Levi told him. He started to walk towards the kitchen and stopped when he saw that Eren wasn't following. "Well, are we gonna make the damn pizza or what?"

Eren scrambled to his feet. "Yes, sir!"

"Fucking spoiled brat," Levi grumbled. He searched around his pantry, knowing he still had some loaf bread. When he pulled it out, Eren gave him a curious look.

"Are we using bread to make pizza?"

Unbelievable. "Eren, don't tell me you don't know about bread pizza."

"I don't know about bread pizza. I mean, there's Luigi's right on the very street that I used to live on so I never had to, like, make my own pizza."

"_Fucking spoiled brat_. Did you honestly expect me to make you actual pizza, pie and all?"

Eren was silent.

"You little shit. Get your ass over here so I can show you some survival tips for college and basically just life." They spent a few minutes looking for the ingredients then they were ready.

"Basically, you just spread some sauce, toss in some cheese, add the meat, then shove them all inside the oven. Simple, easy, convenient." As Levi said this, he made a show of doing the instructions. He motioned for Eren to do the same, until they had around 10 slices of pizza bread ready for baking. They placed five in a tray and placed it inside the oven.

Levi inwardly sighed and glanced at Eren, the teen looking happy and excited. He was staring at the oven until he turned his head to look at Levi. "Thanks."

"For teaching you how to make bread pizza? Don't mention it, brat."

Eren smiled at him, his soft smile. "And for tolerating me."

Levi looked up, blinking at Eren. He was able to put two and two together but couldn't really bring himself to get mad at the teen. He shook his head and crossed his arms. "It's not hard to tolerate you, Eren. You're a good kid." He maintained eye contact as he was saying this, letting Eren know that he was serious.

It wasn't hard to pretend that there wasn't a faint dusting of pink on Eren's cheek, or how his smile had doubled in size as he mumbled a quiet "Thank you" to Levi. Truth be told, it was harder to pretend that Levi wasn't enjoying the moment.

He pulled out the tray and made Eren put the remaining five inside the oven. He asked what the brunet wanted for drinks and they both agreed on Mountain Dew.

"All ready," Eren said, bringing in the pizza and sitting down next to Levi on the couch. By then, the position was becoming all too familiar to the both of them.

"Finally. So much for eating healthy," the older replied, clicking on the remote button so they could start on their first movie, something about a girl being an innkeeper and the surprisingly haunted hotel. Eren, on the other hand, was unsurprisingly very vocal throughout the movie, a series of _"Is she stupid?",_ _"Oh my god, you have to be kidding me",_ _"There's some bad acting for you"_, _"We made the wrong choice, Levi"_ and a few times, he would suddenly reach out and grip a random part of Levi's body when the scene got too scary for him, or let out a small yelp and cover one of his eyes.

Levi found himself thinking that the teen's antics were more amusing than the film itself. When the movie ended, Eren let out a huff.

"Well, that was bad," he announced.

"With the way you kept screaming? I could tell." Levi took a bite from his pizza and excused himself to get chips. When he came back, the next film was already starting. Eren had somehow managed to convince Levi that they needed to watch _The Ring_, saying that it had been more than a couple of years since he last saw it.

Levi ripped open the bag of chips and offered some to the brunet. This time, save for the occasional yelps and _"oh god, oh god"_, Eren was quiet. It seemed like if he liked the film, then he would genuinely pay attention and keep his mouth shut.

In all honesty, though, Levi was paying more attention to him than to what they were watching. He was paying attention to the way Eren's shoulder was pressed against his, and the same went with their knees. Occasionally, Eren's long legs would brush against Levi's, or his head would disappear behind the older male's back. Sometimes, he would suddenly grip at Levi's sides, or his thighs, and then retract when the scene ended. At one point, the teen had pulled his legs so he was hunched into a ball, press flushed against Levi's side.

Levi wondered why he didn't feel uncomfortable with Eren so close, Eren acting so familiar. He had his arm draped on the back of the couch, so when he decided that he wanted to spook Eren out, it worked. He simply gave the teen's shoulder a sudden nudge and got the brat slightly jumping on his seat in time with the character's screaming on screen. He whipped his head to look at Levi and frowned.

"Very mature," he said. After a while, the frown disappeared, and he was shaking his head. "I would appreciate it if you actually paid attention and _watched_ the movie with me."

Levi shrugged, leaning back and turning his gaze to the TV. He watched for a while until he started to feel his phone vibrate in his pocket before he heard it ring. He fished it out and felt a hand grip at his shirt. He sighed, patting Eren's head and gently standing up so he could answer the phone.

"Hello," he breathed out, running a hand through his hair and gently tugging at the strands.

_"Levi, just calling to tell you that you don't have to go to work later,"_ the voice of Erwin Smith informed him. He clicked his tongue.

"That doesn't take a genius to figure out," he drawled out. He used this time to rummage through his refrigerator, wondering what he would cook for dinner.

_"Well, I'm also calling to check up on you. Hopefully, you haven't killed Hanji's nephew yet. You know, hiding dead bodies are pretty hard these days."_

"Very funny, eyebrows." Levi pulled out ingredients for a simple chicken chowder, laying them out on the kitchen table where he and Eren made pizza earlier. His thoughts strayed over to when he patted the boy's head, thinking that it was undeniably affectionate. "I'm hanging up, later."

Halfway through the process of cooking, Eren decided to show up. He eyed the stove and said, "I was wondering why you were taking so long."

"We can't watch movies all day without eating," was Levi's simple answer. "Someone called to tell me that I can have the day off, surprise. Now help me make dinner."

Eren helped with what was left to do, which wasn't much. They ate chicken chowder soup while Eren told Levi that the next movie would be awesome, because his friend wouldn't stop talking about it. Levi never once brought up the fact that Eren kept clinging to him, but he did occasionally tease him about the very manly cries.

They both decided to get pillows and sheets from their rooms for an A+ movie experience (according to Eren) and, although Levi felt like it was a bad idea because they might get too comfortable and end up sleeping there, he found that he liked the cozy situation.

It was around the ninth movie, Levi was leaning against the back of the couch, towards the armrests, feeling his eyes drooping, when he felt the weight on his side slip down and land on his covered lap. He couldn't blame Eren for subconsciously snuggling into the covers on Levi's lap and making himself more comfortable. He shut the TV down and tossed the remote away, hugging his pillow to himself and letting his eyes close.

In the morning, he would blame the teen's weight as to why he didn't move back to his room, when in all honesty, he just found the whole thing comfortable.

It was getting harder to pretend that he wasn't starting to get used to Eren's company.


	3. Chapter 3

Birds chirping, breaking the silence of an early morning, had Levi waking up. He groaned, cracking his neck from side to side a few times to get rid of the stiffness. He rubbed a hand on his eyes to remove the sleep and tried to hold back a yawn, finding that he couldn't move his lower body properly.

Something's wrong, he thought. He shouldn't be hearing birds chirping outside, not in this place, and he shouldn't be sleeping on the couch. Most of all, he realized, Eren shouldn't be sleeping on him, on his lap, specifically.

"Fuck, brat," he grumbled. "Get off, I need to pee."

Eren did get off. Matter of fact, he _rolled_ off and fell on the floor.

"_Fuuuck_," he drawled out. "God, I hit my knee on the goddamn table."

Levi pushed off the couch and dropped his comforter on Eren's face, not bothering to comment on the kid's morning potty mouth. He walked on wobbly legs, feeling the strain of Eren's heavy body sleeping on his thighs. When he got back, Eren was sitting on the floor, Levi's comforter wrapped around him.

"It's chilly," he commented.

"Yeah, but it's not raining." To prove his point, Levi pulled back the curtains to reveal the long glass windows. It wasn't sunny outside, but the streets were definitely dry. The sky was a mix of grey and blue, and every now and then the sun would peek out from big chunks of clouds.

"Wow."

"I know. I swear to god, there were birds chirping outside when I woke up. Crazy." He let his body collapse on the sofa once again, using his arm to cover his eyes. He felt the comforter drape over him and removed the arm to look at Eren.

"I'm gonna make breakfast. Bacon?"

"Thanks," he replied, ruffling the kid's hair. He chuckled when he heard Eren whine something about Levi treating him like a kid.

When Eren left for the kitchen, Levi sat up and massaged his temples. He had work later and the weather outside wasn't exactly telling him that he could stay in. He took the comforter and went to his room and tidied it up. By the time he entered the kitchen, breakfast was ready.

He smirked at Eren as he approached the counter. "I told you, _so much for healthy living_." He grabbed a fork and put some egg into his mouth, following it with bacon.

Eren poured him a glass of water and started to eat his own food, using bare hands. He chuckled at Levi's sneer of disgust. "Do you think there are people in the world who'd say no to bacon?"

Levi finished chewing before answering. "I don't know, Eren. Vegetarians, maybe? Vegans? People allergic to meat?"

Eren rolled his eyes at him. "Thanks, captain." He threw another bacon strip into his mouth and Levi paused to give him the stink eye.

"You're the one asking stupid questions," he said, shrugging. He flashed Eren some teeth when he faked a smile and the teen completely stopped eating. "What?"

A surprised laugh bubbled out from the kid's chest and he visibly turned a soft pink. "Nothing, just didn't know you could actually smile like that. You know, not the grins and smirks."

"Really, Eren," Levi drawled. "Next time, take a picture. It'll last until the next century because that's when I'll smile like that again."

"Yup," the brunet replied. "I'll have my phone always at the ready."

They made more idle chitchat while eating and then Levi insisted that he could wash the dishes alone ("It's just two fucking plates, one fork, and a pan, calm yourself.") and then he asked Eren if he had plans for the afternoon.

"I thought you already knew how boring I am?" He was smiling when he said this. "I don't have anything to do."

"You're not boring, kid." Before Eren could say anything, Levi continued, "The weather's fucking nice so I thought we could drive around for a bit until before I have to go to work. Knowing Hanji, she probably didn't have enough manners to actually tour you around."

Eren looked ecstatic. He chuckled and scratched his cheek. "Yeah, she hasn't. Toured me around, I mean. That sounds like an awesome plan, by the way."

"Okay, kid, don't get a stroke, we're gonna go to fucking Disneyland. Shower first, though. I'm not taking your ass around town if you come out smelling like pizza and bacon."

* * *

><p>Levi dressed lightly, a simple button down and some jeans. Eren came down clad in something similar but instead of a button down, he wore a long sleeve shirt. Levi raised the keys in his hand and asked the brunet if he was ready to go.<p>

"Ready."

They went down to the building's parking lot and Eren mock-whistled (the kid couldn't whistle at all) at the Mercedes. Levi called him a retard.

"Do I need to put my seatbelt on?" Eren asked while Levi climbed into the driver's seat. The younger male started to look around the car, even inspecting the backseats.

"Don't need to, but do whatever, just don't make a mess in here." He turned the engine on and the car roared to life. Once they pulled out from the building and hit the road, Levi turned on the stereo.

"You know, I've always thought that you seem to be awfully rich for a pharmacist," Eren started. "You have a nice two-storey flat in a nice apartment complex, your car's more than nice, your fridge is overflowing with food, and you have a nice TV set."

Levi took his eyes off the road for a moment to look at Eren and shrugged. "Thanks?"

"You're not involved in illegal stuff, right?"

"Like what?" Levi asked, trying to hide the amusement in his voice.

"I dunno… selling people's organs?" Eren tried.

"That sounds like something your aunt would do, not me." He changed radio stations when he heard Nicki Minaj go on.

"You're right, it does." Eren was quiet for a while and Levi glanced at him, seeing that he was concentrating on thinking. "Or, you could be selling illegal drugs or under the counter medications, since you work in a pharmacy…"

Levi sighed. "Nice try, kid. Sounds shady, totally my type."

Eren laughed, asking Levi if he could change the station. He fiddled around with it for a while before he stopped at one song with cheery voices singing a duet. "You don't like Nicki Minaj?"

"I don't understand a word that comes out her mouth," Levi admitted. "And to answer your question, I'm not exactly just a pharmacist, Eren. I'm like the head pharmacist slash supervisor, plus the hospital I work in is the biggest one in town, Sina."

Eren momentarily looked like he was shocked but then he quickly recovered and scoffed. "Rich old man."

Levi had to smile. "Being a lonely, old man has its benefits, child. Like this car, for example." He sent a smile at Eren's way and shook his head at the skeptic expression the kid was giving him, like there was something he wanted to say. "What?"

Eren shut the radio off and Levi saw him shake his head from his peripherals. "Nothing, nothing. Where are we now?"

"Still in town, but we're going to the shopping district. I know a nice coffee place and it's a block away from Sina, so I'll let you see that first."

Eren looked excited to see the hospital and Levi thought it was silly. He pulled into the parking lot and greeted the security guard with a nod. He looked surprised to see him there so early.

"He's with me," Levi said, pulling Eren by the wrist. "Erwin's in yet?"

"Yeah, didn't take his car, though."

Levi nodded and pulled Eren along after throwing in a quick thanks to the guard. They entered the hospital through the back door and emerged inside the main pharmacy building. Levi saw Petra working at the counter with a few other familiar faces and she immediately noticed them.

"Levi! Oh my god, this must be Eren," she exclaimed, wide eyes trained on the tanned brunet. Levi felt Eren slightly turn to look at him and he suppressed a sigh.

He looked around the place and decided that it was lax enough for a quick introduction. "Hey. Eren, this is Petra, obviously a coworker, Pertra, this is Eren, yada yada."

"It's nice to finally meet you, Eren." She extended a hand and Eren took it. "Wow, your eyes really are insane."

Eren made a choking sound from behind his throat. "E-excuse me?"

"Oh, I didn't mean it in a bad way! I meant that it's really so bright and… well, green." At Eren's confused expression, she hurried to add, "I've heard so much about you, specially whenever I'm assigned the night shift."

This time, Levi really did sigh and he even added an eye roll for extra effect. "Yeah, no, she's exaggerating." He pretended he didn't see the wink Petra sent at Eren's way. "Erwin in the office?"

"Yes, he just came back. Go ahead," she said. She gave Levi a knowing smile and he almost rushed to get Eren away from her, but not before they were able to wave goodbye at each other.

"Who's Erwin, again? What does he do?"

"He's like the other supervisor," Levi explained. "He's not exactly my boss, but I follow orders from him. He works the morning and afternoon shift while I work the rest."

They approached the office and Levi gave the door two quick rasps.

"Come in," Erwin called from the other side and Levi lead Eren inside. The man's eyebrow arched when he saw his visitors. "Well, isn't this a pleasant surprise."

"It's your fucking birthday," Levi announced in a monotone. "This is our favorite person's nephew."

Erwin stood up and closed the distance between them, shaking Eren's hand, like what Petra did. "Glad to see you again, Eren."

"Again?" Eren repeated. Levi almost felt sorry for him, all these confusing people suddenly telling him crazy shit.

"Well, I went with Hanji to visit your family back when you were still a little kid, so I technically already met you before this. You remember that, Levi?"

He had to think for a while but he did remember saying no to Hanji pleading for him to visit California with her and Erwin for some sort of house blessing (he also remembers blatantly telling her that he wasn't going to goddamn California just to watch someone sprinkle water all over a house). He nodded his recognition and Eren smiled.

"I think I kinda do remember seeing a really tall man then," Eren told him and he looked like he honestly did.

"Guy's a giant," Levi casually said, earning a chuckle from Erwin.

"The memory would be fonder if you saw a giant _and_ a midget."

"Oh, yeah? Fuck you, too, Erwin, we're leaving." Levi flipped him off after he and Eren said their bye's and out from Eren's sight. He was hardly out the door when Erwin made his rebuttal.

"Oh, and Levi, kid really does have nice eyes."

They encountered a few more people who he introduced to Eren, and one of them was Dot Pixis. Now, this guy Eren knew. Apparently, he was Eren's neighbor back in California, before the old man moved to a different hospital and to a different state. They chatted for a couple minutes while Levi left to talk to one the doctors he knew. When he came back, Pixis was gone.

"Sorry, did you wait long? Where's the old man?"

"Nah, he just left. Said he needed to go to the director," Eren told him, all smiles.

"You look happy," Levi observed as they walked to the coffee shop he mentioned earlier.

"That's 'cause I am," the brunet admitted. He looked at Levi and gave him a wide smile. "Thanks for taking me here, Levi. And for introducing me to all those people. I even got to see my former neighbor and I really liked that man."

Levi patted his back, his own way of saying that it was no big deal. "Now you know where to go if you ever need to. You can get Hanji's work schedule from her. Maybe you could even work there when the time comes, I don't know."

"Yeah, that was what I was thinking about, even talked about it with Pixis," he told Levi. They entered the shop and Eren seemed to be overwhelmed by the smell of coffee and pastries, the warmth of the place, and the homey music playing in the background. "This is amazing."

"Try not to drool." He made Eren sit on his usual place on the far end, by the windows. He ordered him a classic hot caramel latte and an espresso for himself. Levi added a plate of sandwiches to his order and paid everything on the counter.

When he sat down in front of the teen, he was looking out the window and humming an unfamiliar tune. Levi thought that Eren didn't really fit in there, with his tan skin, barely-there child-like features, and eyes so vibrant and alive, it made it seem like everything he saw in this world was sunshine and daisies. He stuck out in quiet and mellow places like this, but not like a sore thumb. In a way, he made the place look livelier just by being there.

"Got any hobbies, kid?" Levi found himself asking, breaking the silence.

"Seriously, stop calling me a kid, brat, child, and every other synonym you can think of." Although he said this, Eren didn't look the least bit mad at being called any of those, but Levi didn't tell him that. "I do art sometimes, sketching."

Levi raised an eyebrow; that was surprising. "Well, wow. Any good?"

"No," the way Eren said it, it was like he laughed it out. "But I can show it to you later, when you get back from work."

Somehow, Levi doubted that Eren wasn't good. He seemed like the kind of kid who worked really hard at things. Before he could voice his thoughts, their order arrived. Eren burned his tongue and had to cool it down by sticking it out for a few minutes while Levi tried not to laugh. They left the shop after finishing their food and Levi toured him around a bit on foot, then on car when he circled the small town, all the way back to his house. He dropped Eren off after eating dinner at a popular fast food chain a few streets away from the residential part of town.

"What about your coat?" Eren asked, leaning on the car's open window.

"It''s okay, I have an extra at the hospital. Get yourself inside before it starts to rain."

Eren nodded, managing to slide in another, "Thanks, Levi."

"See you, kid. Try not to bore yourself to death."

"Earlier today you said I'm not boring."

"Oops," he said this with the straightest face he could muster before speeding off.

He had to hang around the office for a while because his shift wasn't due for another hour and a half so he arranged the files on Erwin's deck, earning him a hearty thank you from the man. He felt like he was hearing those words too much today so he decided to start his shift early, slipping on the pristine white coat. Some of the braver pharmacists, mostly the seniors, teased him about bringing a kid with him, while the interns pretended not to be listening. They stopped after he politely told them to shut the fuck up.

When he got home, he heard Eren's voice coming from somewhere inside the house, and someone was talking to him. "Eren?" he called out, toeing his shoes off. Why the hell was the kid up so early and who the hell was he talking to?

Before he made it to the kitchen, Hanji's head popped into view from a corner and slightly startled him. "Levi!" She ran towards him and practically hugged the breath out of him. He hugged back before it turned into him frantically patting the crazed woman's back, telling her to let him go before he died.

"I'm home!" she announced, like Levi couldn't see that. She gave him a once-over and flicked her forehead. "Did you come here directly from the airport, you idiot?"

"Not really, no. I dropped my things at my place before I decided that I wanted to visit my favorite small guy because big guy's sleeping." She started bouncing on her feet. "Also, also, I wanted to pick up Eren early so we can open the gifts together, unless you want to join on in the fun?"

"No, thank you very much."

Right on cue, Eren appeared, a single duffel bag slung on his shoulder. He was still wearing his clothes from their little trip.

"Could you really not have waited until a more reasonable time?"

Levi immediately knew that he made the wrong move, with the way a smile slowly crept on Hanji's mouth. "Why, gonna miss someone?" As she said this, she wiggled her eyebrows at Levi.

"Fuck, you're creepy, get out."

"Fine, I'll just find a way for you to get the souvenirs or you can drop by, whatever works. You've love them," she swore. "Thanks for taking care of my baby Eren, Levi. You're a-ma-zing."

He ignored Hanji in favor of looking at Eren, who gave him a sheepish smile. He barely noticed Hanji making a detour to his kitchen, probably to steal his food or to give them some alone time.

"Thanks for having me this past few weeks, Levi," Eren said earnestly, his grip on the bag tightening.

"Don't sweat it, kid. It was fun. I'll see you around." Levi didn't want to make it any more awkward than how it already was so he patted the kid on his back, and then Hanji was back (with an apple in her mouth and another in her hand) and then they were saying bye and good night and thank you to Levi that he decided that he didn't want to hear the word "thank" for a whole week.

When he shut the door behind them, he waited a few moments for their voices to die out, a bit thrown off by the silence that greeted him. He changed into more comfortable clothes and crawled into bed, trying not to think about how empty the whole house was again, and forced himself to go to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

The first thing Levi noticed when he woke up was that the place was quiet, save for the sound of the rain drizzling down outside. He flipped over so he was lying on his back, facing the ceiling.

No one knocked on his door and told him that lunch's ready.

He got up and somehow managed to drag himself into the bathroom where he washed his face and rinsed his mouth with water. He looked at the mirror and almost drowned himself inside the tub. Fuck, he looked horrible.

When he entered the kitchen, he thought it was somehow weird, like something was off. Had the table been moved? Were all the things moved? Was his kitchen dirty? Were the tableware replaced without him knowing?

No, it was just that there was no food ready and there was nothing on the counter, because no one made it for him.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, willing himself to get a hang of it. There was no point in feeling whatever it was he was feeling right now (he didn't even know what it was) because he needed to eat something and _do something_ instead of just standing in the middle of his kitchen and staring at the place where a certain brunet always sat down.

"Fucking get a grip of yourself, old man," he said, partly to mask the silence and partly to actually scold himself. He moved to start on lunch, coming up with a simple dish that didn't even take ten minutes to make. While he was eating, he kept glancing out the window, at the steady drizzle outside, and thought that it would have been a nice day to watch random movies.

It was still so silent.

He grabbed his plate and moved to the couch, where he flipped the TV on and listened to the news. He found that he wasn't really focusing on it, just letting the sounds fill the room, so he grabbed the remote and turned it off. A few minutes passed then he was turning it on again, a frown settling between his brows.

No one was inside the laundry room, making a bubble machine out of his washing machine.

When he finished his food and had the dishes done, he walked over to the guest room. He checked to see if the previous occupant had left anything behind, but he found none. There was nothing inside the drawers, the closet, the small bathroom, under the bed, just nothing. The heater was working again, the bed was made as if no one had ever used it, and the room was back to being just a guest room.

He knew he shouldn't have gotten used to the company that was Eren Jaeger, and now he was feeling the effects of it.

* * *

><p>"I saw Hanji around. She almost killed me with a hug."<p>

Levi stuffed his hands inside his coat pockets, twirling his seat around. "She did the same with me."

"I heard. Must have been tough on you," Erwin said, putting away his stuff inside a bag. They were mostly souvenirs from Hanji, Levi noticed.

"Yeah, well, she was inside the house even before I got home, so that didn't really leave me much of a choice. I don't know why the fuck she had to take Eren back so early in the morning, but this _is_ Hanji we're talking about."

Erwin laughed, slinging the bag onto his back. "Don't get too lonely without the kid around, Levi." He patted said man on the head and then he was leaving the office, stopping by the door to give Levi a last knowing smile.

Levi concluded that he really, really hated the both of them, Hanji and Erwin. "Go to hell."

The door slammed shut behind Erwin. Levi felt a headache forming and pressed the heel of his hand to his temple, elbow resting on the table. He was in this position when he heard a knock on the door and clicked his tongue.

"Come in," he called out, already feeling stressed even though his work day hadn't even really started yet.

"Levi? I'm going home now," Petra said, peeking her head in through the door. "Wow, you look awful."

"Thanks, I needed that," Levi replied, pulling back his arm and leaning back against his chair.

"Sorry." She giggled, properly entering the room. "But I really mean it. Is there something up, boss?"

"Nothing much, really, just Erwin being an asshat and Hanji being a fucking bother."

Petra smiled at him and Levi felt a little bit better. "Doesn't sound like anything new, does it?"

"You're right. I should have gotten used to it by now."

There's a pause, Petra still smiling and Levi raising an eyebrow at her. "Don't miss Eren too much, boss, I'm sure you'll see him again."

Levi groaned. "Don't let those crazy ideas run too wild inside your head, Petra. And I thought you were already leaving?"

"Get his number from Doctor Zoe."

"Petra."

"So you can ask him out for lunch or something, right?"

"Wrong, go home."

With a final chuckle, she waved and left Levi alone. He glanced at the clock and decided that it was time to start his shift. He worked the counter for a bit, even though he knew he wasn't the best person for it because he wasn't the most pleasant and most patient worker in there, but neither was Auruo Bossard. After a while, he transferred into the storage room to deal with orders and calls instead.

He was on a coffee break when he happened to run into his least favorite person of the day.

"Levi! I'm so glad I managed to see you here! I mean, not referencing to your height or anything," Hanji told him, one hand stuffed inside her coat pocket, the other holding her own cup of coffee.

Levi rolled his eyes at her, too tired to comment on the height joke. "Surprised to see you here, four-eyes. Don't you have jetlag? Shouldn't you be at home?"

"Aw, are you worried about me?" Hanji moved to hug him but he swiftly stepped away, choosing to sit down on one of the plastic chairs lining the wall. Hanji pouted but followed him.

"What's the problem, Levi? You look like you could use a few more extra hours of sleep."

"I wonder why that is… probably because a deranged woman forced her way into my house to get back her nephew at five in the morning." Levi sipped his coffee, willing the caffeine to do its work on his nerves.

"Sorry," she said, extending the _o_. "I didn't know you wanted to keep him for a while longer."

Levi almost smacked a hand against his face. "God, why does everyone keep getting the wrong idea?"

Hanji patted the raven on the head, much like how she would pat her dogs. It took every ounce of Levi's patience not to break her arm. "You and Eren are so cute, I swear."

"Right, please don't associate me with whatever weird sense of cute you have," he said, lightly pushing her hand away. Hanji dug it into her pocket again and it emerged holding out an array of candies. "What?"

"Take some! It can help with the bad mood." She kept pushing it to him; her hand was almost pressed to his face. He took one that read _90% cocoa_ and made a show of popping it into his mouth.

He almost did a double take. "It's bitter as fuck."

"I let you choose." She shrugged and put the candies back into her pocket.

"What are those for? Giving them to patients again?" he asked, already feeling the chocolate melt in his mouth. It got better and Levi thought it wasn't so bad, just a bit stronger than his regular dark chocolate.

"No, they're for me," Hanji admitted, throwing away her empty cup and fixing her ponytail. "I have an operation later."

Levi understood what that meant. If Hanji needed candy and chocolate before an operation, that meant that she was nervous about it, and that also meant that it was going to be a major one. "Good luck, glasses. Try not to fuck it up."

"I'll give it my best shot, Shorty," Hanji replied, ruffling Levi's hair despite the glare he directed at her. She laughed and stood up, stretching her arms above her head. "When are you going to pick up your souvenirs?"

"I don't see why I have to pick it up when Eyebrows got his delivered to him."

"But that's Eyebrows, you're Shorty, I'm Glasses." Hanji glanced at the watch placed on her wrist. "Whoops, gotta get going now. See you later, Levi."

"Get a concussion," was the raven's answer. It only earned him a loud laugh that had people turning their heads to look at Hanji. "Remind me to never let people see me with you in public."

* * *

><p>The following mornings weren't much different. He woke up, made food, ate alone, enjoyed TV alone, and basically everything that he had been doing before Eren came along. He didn't hear from the brat after he left the house, except when Hanji would occasionally mention him whenever they saw each other at the hospital.<p>

"He's so busy right now, running around doing stuff for college," Hanji once told Levi. He figured that Eren _would be_ busy, August was just around the corner, after all.

Levi pushed his dinner around his plate, idly listening to the news. He lost his appetite and was starting to wonder what Eren found so special about the food he made. He was thinking about cleaning before getting ready for work, but then he remembered that he had already cleaned the entire house after eating lunch.

He glanced at the clock, 6:45 PM. Still plenty of time to waste, nothing to waste it on, he thought. If Eren was around, the brunet would insist that they watch something on TV to kill time, just like what Levi was doing right now. Still, it would have felt different.

The whole house felt different without the brunet running around, bothering him, asking him stupid questions, Levi hearing him talking to someone on the phone, watching him cleaning and smacking him on the head for doing a horrible job at it. It wasn't like Levi missed the kid, for fuck's sake, it was just that his schedule and routine got thrown off again and he was readjusting. Or at least that was what he tried to tell himself over and over again.

In the back of his head, he knew he was a lost cause.

"Maybe I should get a dog," he thought out loud. He would have to potty train it so it wouldn't shit and piss all over the house. He left before eight so he could still give it dinner, then he would have to leave it all alone in the house until he got back. Would the dog get lonely? Do dogs get lonely? Yeah, they probably do. They also make a fucking mess when no one's around.

He could get the small type because the smaller they are, the smaller their shit, right? Also, the lazy type that would just sleep while he's gone so he wouldn't feel guilty about leaving it all alone. He'd have a companion to wait for him and greet him when he got home, have someone to eat meals with, watch TV with, run around while he cleaned the house and made a mess while it was at it.

He pulled out his phone and typed a message to Hanji, asking her if she knew where he could get a dog, but then he thought better of it and deleted the message before he could send it.

It was when he was in the shower and had accidentally rubbed shampoo all over his eyes that he finally admitted to himself that he was indeed very lonely.

"Whoa, bad day?" Erwin asked him the moment he entered the office. Levi flipped him off with the finger.

"Seriously, Levi. Have you been getting enough sleep lately? I know your schedule's crazy and all, but you look extra horrible today."

"I'm sorry for not being aesthetically pleasing enough for you, Smith, please hop off my dick. Or you could get me coffee, if you're being generous enough." Levi pretended to inspect his nails as he talked. He looked up and saw that Erwin was shaking his head but was giving him a smile. "Stop worrying about me, it's creepy. Everyone's being creepy."

"Well, we wouldn't be worrying about you if you didn't come to work looking like you wanted to kill everyone," Erwin chided, rising from his seat, bag already slung over his shoulder.

"I always look this way, might I remind you."

"And like I said, you look extra horrible today."

Levi collapsed on his chair. "Remind me why I'm friends with you when all you do is insult my physical appearance."

Erwin only chuckled, waving him off before leaving the room. Right before Levi set to work, someone knocked on his office door.

"From Erwin," Auruo told him, handing him a cup of coffee.

Levi couldn't help the small smirk that stretched on his lips. On the cup, a small sticky note was attached that read, _This is why I'm your friend._

"Fucking dork," Levi murmured, silently thanking the blonde for the coffee. It definitely helped brighten up his mood a bit.

When he got home, the exhaustion started to kick in, weighing him down. He took a pill for the headache that had managed to bloom during his shift at the hospital, when two interns managed to fuck up an order from a doctor _twice_, when Auruo got into a small argument with a patient who kept insisting that his health card was still valid although it needed to be renewed, and when Levi had to deal with all these mishaps. The coffee Erwin had given him was clearly not enough to help him though the catastrophe of today, but neither were the following cups he took during his short break. To say that he wanted to sleep until next week was an understatement.

Levi stood under the stream of hot water that rushed down from the shower, letting the water do its magic on his muscles. Tomorrow was his day off and it was a well deserved one, considering everything that he had gone through that week. When he was done cleaning his body of the dirt and grime and all of humanity's bullshit that had managed to cling to him, he settled inside the tub, pretending that it was a bubble bath instead of just a tub filled with warm water. When he started to feel the struggle of keeping his eyes open, he decided that it really was time to go to bed.

Cleaned and tired beyond his capacity, Levi thought he would fall asleep the moment his head hit the soft pillows, and he was almost there when his phone went off. He cursed and used every profanity he knew, waiting for the thing to go silent. When it did, it only took a couple of heartbeats before it went off again.

Levi was officially done. He grabbed the phone with unnecessary force, blindly sliding his thumb over the screen to answer the call.

"What?" he spit out, holding his tongue so he wouldn't swear at the person on the other line. For all he knew, it could be one of the higher-ups from the hospital and if it was, his greeting was already a very bad way to start a phone call with his boss.

_"Hey, it's Eren."_

Levi paused. He felt his breath get stuck in his throat and he pulled the phone away for a second to stare at the numbers on the screen, before pressing it back again to his ear. He wanted to yell at Eren and tell him that he's a retard.

"Yeah," was what he managed to say instead, flinging a hand to his face and pinching the bridge of his nose between two fingers.

He didn't ask how the teen managed to get his number (he probably got it from Hanji) or why he was calling so late. He didn't ask when he got the number, or why he was calling now, at this time of the day. He didn't ask why he asked for the number, why Eren didn't visit, didn't ask anything. He just listened to the boy's breathing, listened to Eren sounding like he was about to say something but stopping himself all the time.

_"I miss you, Levi."_

Maybe Levi should have expected that, but he didn't. He was starting to get mad because he could feel the sleepiness fading away as his heart, dare he admit, started to beat louder in his chest. It was stupid, because he wasn't a goddamn teenager. It was also stupid because he knew what he wanted to say, but he just closed his eyes, not stopping the tiny smile that formed on his face.

"Yeah."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** so i realized i never left notes here on ffn. anyway, this story can also be found on ao3 and i'm called Pink Panda (Ejacyeolation) there. love love love

ps. in need of proofreader/ beta reader/ editor/ friend


	5. Chapter 5

_"I used to get into fights a lot." _

"Not all that surprising, really," Levi drawled. He tried to stifle a yawn but still heard Eren pause to laugh.

_"Yeah, and I especially got into fights with this Jean person. I swear, he looks like such a horse, just seeing his face will annoy anyone." _

Levi actually snorted at that. "You have very strong feelings for this Jean guy."

_"He used to hit on my sister until he decided that he wanted someone else, so yes, I do have very strong feelings for him. Of hatred, that is."_

"You must look so cute after all these fights, looking like a panda and all."

_"Your sarcasm hurts me, Levi, ouch."_

"Glad to hear that." Levi turned his head to look out the window, watching the grey clouds loom over the city. It didn't take long before it started to rain. "Guess what, it's raining."

_"Surprise, surprise,"_ Eren replied. Levi thought he heard the teen sigh before speaking again. _"Should you go to sleep now?" _

"I should, yes. Can I sleep now, Eren?"

_"Yes, you can, Levi."_ Said man rolled his eyes. _"I'm kidding. Sorry for keeping you up so… early? Yeah. I guess I just got a bit carried away."_

The raven-haired man hummed, watching as the rain visibly pelted down harder. He felt calm, lying in bed, covered in warm and soft sheets. The calmness, as he tried to tell himself, had nothing to do with the fact that he had a phone pressed to his ear, talking to a certain brat. "_A bit_. Right, Jaeger."

Laughing, Eren kept laughing. _"Good mornight, Levi."_

"Good morning, retard."

Levi pulled the phone away from his ear, thinking he heard Eren say "I'm not a retard" before he was able to hit END CALL. He tossed the phone lightly to the side, getting up to go to the bathroom. When he came back, his screen was lit up and it told him that he had received a new message.

**"I'm not a retard." Message received: 7:17 AM**

He shook his head, deciding that he was going to ignore Eren. He slid under the covers of his bed again and then felt the phone vibrate in his hand.

**"Sleep well :)" Message received: 7:18 AM**

"Is this kid shitting me?" He started to type out a response but deleted it halfway, figuring that he wouldn't be able to get any sleep if he humored the teenager's attempts at texting.

Levi glanced at the clock on his bedside table, the digits 7:20 flashing in red print. It was 20 minutes pass seven o'clock in the morning, and he was still awake. He stared down at the phone that was clutched inside his hand, feeling the heat because of the long period of using it.

He wondered who was paying for Eren's phone bill and had the heart to feel sorry for them, whoever it was. Two hours of continuous talking on the phone was bound to be expensive, after all. As he thought about this, he realized that he had been on the phone, talking to Eren Jaeger, for two hours, instead of sleeping. He had been on the phone with Eren, talking about useless stuff that would not, in any way, benefit humanity.

He rolled on his stomach, placing the phone beside the digital clock. He blinked a couple of times, willing the sleep to come. When he looked the clock again, it told him that it was ten minutes before eight. With this, Levi concluded that, "I'm so fucked."

* * *

><p>When he woke up approximately seven hours later, the first thing he did was look for his daily caffeine fix. He was holding a steaming hot mug of coffee in both hands and staring down at his phone. He took a sip and opened his messages. There was one from Erwin, two from Hanji, none from Eren.<p>

He read the three messages he received and replied to none of them. His phone told him that it was a few past two in the afternoon, obviously too late to have breakfast. He would have to do with late lunch. He kept thinking about the lunch he planned to make but never actually got up from his seat, until his mug was empty and he was refilling it. He was halfway through his second cup when he picked up his phone again and scrolled through his contacts. He paused, faltered for a couple of seconds, before he started to type up a message.

"I'm up now, brat." He deleted this.

"Good afternoon." He thought it sounded weird so he deleted this, too.

**"Yes, you are a retard." Message sent: 2:12 PM**

He left the phone on the table for a while, walking over to the fridge to inspect its contents. He made a mental note to do his groceries soon, seeing as he was running low on resources. He was contemplating just doing a simple omelet when he heard his phone go off. Startled, he almost banged his head on the top of shelf of the fridge, cursing under his breath. He walked back to the counter and sighed.

Eren was calling. He took the phone and swiped his finger on the screen to answer it. "Who's paying for your phone bills?"

The line was quiet for a moment, until Eren's confused voice chimed in. _"Uh, my parents? Why? And hello to you, too, Levi."_

"Was just wondering how a college student could afford to pay his bills when he keeps calling people."

_"I only call you, though,"_ Eren argued. He sounded normal again, not like Levi sprung him up with a weird question the moment the older male picked up the phone.

"I thought you talked to your sister and that best friend of yours every day."

_"Yeah, I do, but they call, not me. It's easier."_

"You're still wasting money by calling me, brat. And it's not even your money." Levi walked back to the fridge, using his hip to keep it open as he continued to raid it. "Fuck, I'm hungry."

_"Do you want me to come over and make something for you?"_ Eren offered. For a second, Levi was tempted to take him up on it.

"Don't be stupid. I'm a perfectly functional adult, I can handle my own meals."

There's another pause, followed by a snort. _"Right. Whatever you say."_ Levi could hear the smile in Eren's voice and he gritted his teeth. _"I'll leave you alone now so you can do functional adult stuff and handle your meal, then."_

"That's so considerate of you, thank you very much."

True to his words, Eren hung up after openly laughing at Levi. The older male shook his head stupidly at the phone, as if Eren would be able to see his disapproval through the small device. He set to work on his lunch, whipping out a simple cheese omelet in less than ten minutes. He was eating his meal when his phone vibrated.

**"What are you going to make?" Message received: 2:24 PM**

Levi raised an eyebrow. "Omelet," he texted back. Less than a minute later, his phone vibrated again.

**"Sounds creative." Message received: 2:26 PM**

**"Fuck you." Message sent: 2:26 PM**

* * *

><p>Tuesday afternoon, Levi was scrolling through his Facebook news feed when he heard someone ring the doorbell. He checked his phone and saw that Eren had texted him to say that he was there.<p>

_Genius,_ Levi thought, padding his way to get the door. He was greeted with a huge grin from Eren.

"Hey."

"Are you going to stand there forever?" Levi asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Are you going to let me in?" The grin turned into the kind of smile that made Levi's eyebrow twitch in annoyance.

"Okay, go back to Hanji's cave, then—" Levi was about to slam the door in the brunet's face but Eren was quicker, stepping in and pulling Levi to him. Levi found his nose pressed to Eren's jacket and blinked. He tilted his face so his chin was resting on the taller's shoulder.

"What. The. Fuck. What's the big idea, brat?" He clicked his tongue, awkwardly shifting his weight to his other foot.

"Sorry, sorry. I just feel like it's been forever since I last saw you," Eren answered.

"Wow, you're such a fucking sap, I can't believe it." Despite this, Levi patted the kid on the back and let his hand stay there. "It's only been two weeks; you can save me the drama."

Eren laughed. For a moment, Levi felt the teen's arms tighten around him then Eren was stepping back, beaming at Levi. "Have you eaten yet?"

"You sound like a housewife, stop," Levi said, pulling away and heading back to the living room. "Don't you have anything else to do?"

"Except bother you? Nope." Eren followed after him, looking around the house. "Wow, I feel nostalgic. Weird."

"That's because you're a weirdo. Do you want anything to drink?"

"Coffee sounds perfect to me," Eren told him. He seated himself on the couch and looked up at Levi. "Can I use this?"

"Sure, go crazy." Levi left and went to the kitchen, starting up the coffee maker. It took a while for the black liquid to be ready so Levi managed to look for a jar of cookies that he never knew he had. Thankfully, they weren't expired yet.

He was in the process of making Eren's coffee when he realized that he had somehow managed to figure out the way the brunet wanted his drink. He scowled, silently cursing Eren. He carried both mugs and had the cookie jar secured under his arm, walking back to where Eren was.

Much to his annoyance, the brunet was too engrossed in whatever he was doing to notice Levi returning, so he wasn't offered any help. He set the mugs down and pressed the cookie jar to Eren's cheek.

"Wow, cookies!" Eren exclaimed, snatching the jar from Levi. The older male sighed and sat down beside him.

"It's Christmas, hoho," he said in monotone. He glanced at the laptop and almost choked on his saliva. "Eren, I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to stalk someone using his own account."

Eren was already munching on a cookie and had to finish it before speaking. "It's fun. This way, I can see private posts."

Levi gave him an incredulous look. "You're invading my privacy, you twat."

"I swear, I didn't look through any of your messages or notifications, not even your friend requests."

Levi shook his head, lightly punching Eren on the shoulder. "Right, brat." Eren grinned at him then resumed his stalking, and Levi noticed that he had shed his jacket and revealed that he was wearing a fairly simple plain white t-shirt. What caught Levi's attention, though, was how he felt like Eren had somehow lost weight. "Does Hanji even feed you?"

Eren looked confused and Levi mentally punched himself for thinking that it was cute, Eren's eyebrow drawn together, a cookie in between his lips. He removed the cookie from his mouth to speak. "Well, she's really not all that talented when it comes to cooking so I have to cook the meals most of the time, or we order take out."

"You've become thinner is what I'm trying to say here, Eren. Sorry, didn't think your mind was incapable of processing that."

Eren's mouth formed an O before turning down into a frown. "I don't think I did?"

"You're not as bright as your eyes, are you?" Levi sipped on his coffee and pulled out his phone. When he didn't get an answer, he glanced at Eren, whose face was tinted with pink. "Why the fuck are you blushing?"

The brunet had the gall to laugh, placing his palm over his mouth then scratching his nose. "I just noticed… you… even at the hospital people kept mentioning it, it's like you have something going on for my eyes, Levi."

Levi almost spit his coffee. "You're too fucking cocky for your own good, kid. And you have nice eyes, green and bright and huge and beautiful and shit, so what?"

Eren's face grew redder and he laughed harder, leaning away from Levi and covering his mouth with his hand again. The older male gave him time to compose himself, rolling his eyes and stealing the laptop away. Eren kept trying to say something but he would get interrupted by his own laughter, so Levi gave up on listening.

"Okay, I'm good now," Eren declared, reaching for his coffee and laughing a bit before bringing the mug to his lips.

"Amazing. For a second, I thought you would shit your pants there."

"I wasn't laughing that hard, jeez."

"You were, you looked retarded. Do you even want to explain what's so funny?" Levi looked away from the screen and made direct eye contact with Eren, who was looking at him with this adoring smile, Levi had to raise an eyebrow.

"I was just thinking that I've just heard one of the best compliments in my life, so thank you, Levi, for complimenting my _green and bright and huge and beautiful and shit_ eyes," Eren finished saying this with such a triumphant grin plastered on his face, Levi was torn between smacking him on the head and patting him.

Eren stayed there for a few more hours until Levi had to go to work, so he dropped the teenager off at Hanji's house and drove to the hospital. When he got to work, the first thing he heard from Erwin was, "You're smiling. It looks weird."

* * *

><p>On Friday night, he noticed something odd. Something was off, and he knew what it was; Eren had not texted or called him the whole day. Usually, the kid would send him a simple "Good morning" text every morning, then they would kick off the conversation from that. Eren would also leave "Sleep well" messages when he thought Levi was about to go to sleep, and Levi would reply with a small message of his own. Indeed, it was sappy and they were acting like high school students, but if Levi was being honest, it really wasn't bad.<p>

So he thought it was only natural for him to wonder why the brunet had not contacted him the whole day. He thought up several possible reasons, including a phone bill so large, his parents put him on a cell phone ban. He also considered the possibility that Eren might have lost his phone, because Eren Jaeger was one hell of an idiot.

He was about to leave work when he got a message from said brunet, and it was a simple, "Be careful on your way back :)" and nothing else. Levi was confused, but it wasn't like he expected an explanation as to why he was getting the silent treatment all of a sudden, so he replied and went home. When he checked his phone before going to sleep, Eren hadn't replied.

This went on for a week, Eren only texting every now and then, a severe contrast to how often he talked to Levi before. The few times they called each other, Eren sounded so tired, Levi would make up some bullshit excuse to hang up and switch to texting instead. Friday rolled around again, and by then, Levi was really starting to get worried about the kid, but he never bothered to bring up the question; _is there something wrong?_

He kept thinking that maybe Eren was once again busy with preparations for college, and it wasn't like they didn't talk anymore. Their conversations were put into a minimum for unknown reasons to Levi, and he honestly didn't know what was going on anymore.

Saturday morning, Levi got an unexpected text message from Eren, which he only got to read when he woke up in the afternoon.

**"Hey, Levi? I really want to see you." Message received: 10:42 AM**

He kept staring at the text, and he decided that something really was wrong. He was about to send a reply when his phone vibrated in his hands.

**"You remember that cereal I told you about? I found it in Walmart the other day." Message received: 1:14 PM**

At the mention of Walmart, Levi remembered that he had to do grocery shopping, and now was probably the best time for that.

**"Did you buy it?" Message sent: 1:15 PM**

**"Nah, didn't have money on me that time. Sucks balls." Message received: 1:17 PM**

**"Okay, hold up, I'll message you later." Message sent: 1:18 PM**

Levi left the phone on the counter and went upstairs to snatch a jacket and his car keys. When he returned, there was a single reply from Eren.

**"Okay." Message received: 1:21 PM**

To say that he was confused was understating it, but he really didn't know how to deal with the situation. Eren was obviously bothered by something, Levi could tell that much, but he couldn't bring himself to pry into the teen's business. Were they close enough for that? Sure, they texted and called each other a lot before this week, and sure, Levi enjoyed talking to Eren and Eren seemed to enjoy talking to him, but what did that make of them, really?

He kept thinking about this, even when he was looking at the cereals in Walmart, he had almost missed Hanji (except you couldn't really miss Hanji when she's screaming your name at the top of her lungs).

"Wow, Levi! Didn't think I'd bump into you here," Hanji told him, linking their arms and dragging him away from the cereal he was eyeing. "Do you need to get anything else? Let's pay for these and go somewhere nice!"

Levi didn't even try to argue, just shook his head and went along with the woman. Somehow, he ended up paying for both his and Hanji's groceries, not that she bought a lot of items; just two bottles of dog shampoo and three boxes of cereals. Somehow, the brand sounded familiar to Levi.

"I'm trying to cheer Eren up with these," Hanji said, gesturing to the cereal boxes. She had dragged him to a nearby coffee shop and forced him to have coffee with her.

So he was right about the cereal, and maybe also about Eren. "Is there something wrong with him?" he asked, patting his pockets for his phone, then he remembered that he left it at home and inwardly kicked himself.

"Lots of family bullshit going on right now, poor kid's getting caught in between. I'm sure he'll tell you about it sooner or later."

They told the girl working the counter their orders (Hanji paid this time) and went to sit. "What do you mean, he'll tell me?"

"What, did you think I didn't know that you two talk to each other a lot now? I told you, he will rock your world."

"Of course," Levi murmured, frowning at the table.

"He's like, so hooked and head over heels with you, it's sickeningly endearing," Hanji told Levi. "He keeps mentioning you and the funny part is that it seems like he doesn't even notice it! One moment we would be talking about ordering pizza, and then he'll say something about "Levi and survival tips". It's crazy, I swear to god."

Levi rolled his eyes. "_You're_ crazy and you sound stupid." Their orders arrived before Hanji could speak, giving Levi a way to hide his mouth from sight.

Levi got up and Hanji followed hi, leaving the shop together. Hanji kept giving him a side-eye stare all the way to where he had parked his car, but he made an effort to ignore her.

"You're not telling me something, Levi. Tell me. Now."

The raven huffed, stuffing his hand into his coat pocket. Should he tell Hanji? Well, yes. Hanji's one of his best friends and, although he would never tell her, he loved her like a sister. Also, this was her nephew they were talking about, so he met Hanji's stare and said, "Four eyes, I like a teenager whose eyebrow game is almost as strong as Erwin's."

Hanji's eyes widened behind her glasses, then her mouth broke into a shit-eating grin. She didn't squeal, or laugh, or did anything that Levi expected her to do. She just smiled this gigantic smile at him and looked genuinely and extremely happy for him.

"Fuck, you look so stupid," Levi said, running a hand through his hair. When he looked at Hanji, he groaned, because her smile had morphed into her classically annoying I-told-you-so smile.

"And this, my dear Levi, is why I'm always right," Hanji stated, slinging her arm over Levi's shoulders. "I told you before, didn't I? You're going to love him."

Levi ended up driving Hanji back to her house, and she talked his ear off about Eren this and Eren that. During the ride, it had started to rain and she kept asking him stupid questions like "What do you like about him the most, his eyes?" and "How did you figure out that you like him in that sense?". Most of the time, Levi just tuned her out and kept doing this until they reached her house and he dropped her off (after repeatedly telling her that no, he did not want to say hi to Eren).

He did, though. He did want to "say hi" to the teen, but not when his crazed aunt was around.

* * *

><p>Levi was thinking about how weird the whole situation was, when he looked up and almost dropped his keys. He was more than confused and very much shocked to find Eren standing outside his apartment door, dripping wet. He continued walking until he was standing directly in front of the teen.<p>

"Are you really, really retarded?"

Eren smiled and Levi couldn't help but think that the kid look so tired, he almost wanted to pat him. "Sometimes, I ask myself that."

The older man clicked his tongue, turning to open the door. He let Eren enter before him, then led him to the bathroom. He opened the drawer where he kept fresh towels and grabbed a couple of the big, fluffy materials, tossing them to the teen.

Levi gave him a once over. The teen was shaking from the cold and Levi couldn't help but reach out and take one of the towels from Eren and bring it to his head, ruffling his hair and staring at his forehead.

"You're unbelievable, kid," he said, finally letting his eyes meet with Eren's. The brunet didn't reply, only offering Levi a small smile for his effort.

Levi let go of the towel and stepped away. "I'm going to look for something you can wear, wait here."

He heard Eren mumble a "Thanks" before he left the bathroom, heading upstairs to his room. He rummaged inside his drawers and his closet, trying to look for something that he thought would fit Eren. After a few minutes, he emerged victorious, a simple plaid shirt and some jeans that were both too long for him in his arms. He went back to Eren and gave the teen the clothes, then he left him in favor of making coffee.

He was waiting for the coffee to be ready when he heard Eren approach him. He turned and smirked at the sight. "Fits you well, but it would be perfect if you actually got the buttons right."

Levi fixed the buttons that Eren had somehow messed up, glad that the clothes fit the teen. He popped the buttons open and refastened them properly. He was about to comment on Eren's mistake when he was pulled into a hug, thin arms wrapping around him. Strangely enough, Levi didn't feel like pulling away this time. He raised his arms and, like last time, patted the boy on his back.

He didn't mind that Eren was clinging to him like this, trying to find comfort in Levi. Normally, he would run away from the emotional baggage, but with Eren, Levi found that he didn't mind it. What he did mind, though, was when he felt a kiss being pressed to his neck.

"Eren, I'm 30 years old," he reminded the teen, his hands stilling.

"I'm 19, who cares?" the brunet countered, speaking against Levi's skin, causing the older male to sigh.

"The law, obviously." Levi turned his head away for a second to turn off the coffee machine, then there was a hand under his chin that was forcing him to face the boy that was still pressed against him. He didn't really have time to react or to protest when Eren leaned down and pecked him on the lips.

The kiss didn't last long; Levi didn't even get the chance to close his eyes, even if he wanted to. As soon as it came, Eren's lips were moving away again, unsure eyes staring down at him. The arm that was still wrapped around his waist started to move away, so Levi took hold Eren's cheek and guided him down for a proper kiss. This one lasted a bit longer than the first.

"Are you happy now?" Levi asked after pulling away, staring up at Eren's eyes.

Eren visibly took a deep breath, exhaling through his nose. A big smile spread across his face, red painting his cheeks. "Yeah, I am."

Levi thought that he, too, somehow felt happy, but he doesn't tell Eren that.

* * *

><p>AN: this is so late and so crappy im sorry im trash but i'm levirens on tumblr pls talk to me


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